French President Jacques Chirac's trip this week to Beijing will bring into sharp focus the battle between the world's biggest aircraft makers, Europe's Airbus and Boeing of the US, for the prized Chinese market.
Airbus Industrie, based in southwestern France, is hoping for an order of a dozen planes to emerge from the trip, French presidential sources said.
China could become the 14th customer for Airbus's future A380, buying five to 10 of the double-decker superjumbos, which could be delivered before the Olympic Games are held in Beijing in 2008.
Such a purchase would not only boost Airbus's already impressive A380 orders book, now at 129 firm orders, but would also give the European planemaker a symbolic and commercial lead over its US rival in the much sought-after Chinese market.
"In terms of orders over the past three years, the two companies are equal," said Philippe Gassmann, the head of technology at the French economic mission in Beijing.
Boeing, which for the first time was last year knocked out of pole position by Airbus for sales of planes with more than 100 seats, has not yet received any Chinese orders for its next-generation 7E7 Dreamliner jet.
The 7E7 is a medium-haul, fuel-efficient model that the US firm says is the future of civil aviation. Airbus, in contrast, is betting its future on the long-haul A380.
Chirac, who will be in China from Oct. 8 to Oct. 12, will be accompanied by a bevy of French business leaders hoping to clinch deals in areas ranging from high-speed rail links to the construction of nuclear reactors.
But the competition is particularly intense for the Chinese market because the stakes are so high.
The market will require over the next two decades 1,295 planes, according to the airplane maker China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC 1). Boeing estimates it at 2,127 and Airbus at 1,600 aircraft, according to the French economic mission.
These giddying estimates are based on strong growth by the three main Chinese airlines -- Beijing-based Air China, China Eastern in Shanghai, and China Southern based in Guangzhou -- but also on expansion at smaller Chinese companies such as Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and China Yunnan.
They are also based on liberalization of the sector as well as on the expectation that Chinese companies will sign up to commercial alliances with the major international airlines.
"Eastern and Southern are both already listed" on the stock market, Gassmann said. "As for Air China, it wants to be listed soon."
Since 2002 legislation allows foreign investors to acquire up to 49 percent of a Chinese company's capital, with no one outsider taking more than 25 percent of the company.
"Each of the three companies is aiming to join an international [airline] alliance," Gassmann added. "And each international alliance is also trying to get a foothold in China."
China Southern was the first to sign such a deal, allowing it to join in 2005 the Skyteam alliance that includes Air France and the US carrier Delta Airlines.
To achieve their aims in China, Airbus and Boeing are using the same methods -- both are lobbying intensely and both are signing industrial partnership deals with Chinese companies.
Airbus said in June that parts of the landing gear for the A380 would be made in China, as would certain doors to be made for the cargo versions of the A330 and A340 planes.
Boeing for its part has selected two Chinese parts suppliers for its future 7E7 in contracts believed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS